Ice Cold
by Open Casket Ceremony
Summary: Horohoro and Ren have long broken off their ties to each other. However, one cold winter day, Horohoro finds Ren left in an alley, beaten, raped, and on the brink of death. It has to be enough to melt his icy heart. Nothing graphic. Oneshot, HoroxRen


There was nothing Horohoro loved more than the snow. Nothing. Sure, he loved his family, but not as much as he loved snow. And this love had turned his heart into a similar property: cold, blank, and unfeeling.

Ren had been like this until he had met Horohoro, and yet, he found his own heart being shattered and plunged into the icy darkness once again. It was so painful to remember the day when he had told Horohoro how he truly felt. It had been their second year dating.

_"Horohoro...it's been such a long time...And I was wondering...if you love me like I love you."_

_There was a painful silence that was worse to the ears than all the noise in hell._

_And then came Horohoro's apathetic, cold, emotionless reply. The words that would impact Ren more than he could imagine._

_"I'm sorry, Ren. I don't."_

And right then and there, Ren had cut off all the relations he had with Horohoro. He knew that all it would bring him would be pain and heartbreak, and he chose to try and forget it ever happened and that Horohoro was ever a person. But, oh, how difficult it was. And he never really stopped the memories from coming back to him. Horohoro's kindness, his warm smile...which, unfortunately, was never warm enough to melt the ice that was slowly taking over the blue-haired youth's heart, like a parasite.

And so, because of that Horohoro often took walks alone in the snow he loved.

This day was no exception.

With the crisp winter air wrapping itself comfortably around his body, Horohoro strode through the streets, his feet crunching pleasantly in the white snow. Everything was still, peaceful, and motionless. Just the way Horohoro liked it.

Much to his annoyance, a sudden noise shattered the silence. A muffled scream of pain. Growling to himself, Horohoro chose to ignore the sound. However, curiosity got the better of him as he decided he should investigate.

He turned towards the direction of the noise, contemplating whether or not he should take the gamble. It could mean danger, it could mean nothing at all. He must have been standing there fore at least ten minutes before he finally decided he would do it.

His ears guided him towards a dark, deserted alley. Deserted, with the exception of two people. A large man, and a smaller boy of about his age. The man saw him, and scurried away in startled surprise.

Horohoro took a few steps forward, squinting his eyes to see through the shadows. A pair of wide, fearful golden eyes met his. The eyes widened, and their gaze quickly averted. The Ainu swallowed. He knew those eyes, he knew the boy.

Tao Ren.

He stared, shocked at the boy at his feet. Ren's clothes had been torn away, only a few shreds of fabric still clung to his thin, nearly naked frame. His pale skin was stained red with blood. His own blood. He was shivering in the bitter cold. The bleeding was terrible. Fresh wounds were scattered across his body, leaking crimson liquid onto the white snow.

The snow Horohoro no longer loved.

"Ren..."

He knelt down next to the Chinese boy, taking him in his arms and holding him tightly, refusing to let go of him. And for the first time since he and Ren had split, he shed a single crystaline tear. It splashed to the cold floor.

He had come too late. Ren had already lost a lot of blood. Without a doubt, he was going to die.

It was now or never.

"I'm sorry...the day I told you I didn't love you as much as you loved me...I said no...because I love you even more than that...Ren."

"Horohoro..."

The golden eyes Horohoro wished he could have seen more fluttered closed forever. His body went limp in Horohoro's arms, his heart stopped beating, still as the world seemed to be. Horohoro released his grip on Ren, and his lifeless body slumped to the floor, covered with blood. The Ainu brushed his cheek with his hand. It was cold. Stone cold. Colder than the snow he now hated.

Ren was dead.

Cold.

Ice cold.


End file.
